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The amazing Ms. Sarah Holodick is back to share some insights and pics of her recent encounters with two of TV’s most famous foodies — Robert Irvine, from Food Network’s Dinner: Impossible, and Andrew Zimmern, from Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods! Don’tcha just wish you coulda been there? You can find the review of Andrew Zimmern’s demo here. Below is Sarah’s review of Robert Irvine’s demo!

Robert Irvine Demo: Sunday, October 24th, 2010

On Sunday, October 24th, Matt and I headed back over to the Festival Center to see Robert Irvine’s Culinary Demonstration. Let’s just say it’s not quite what I anticipated!

It started out much like Andrew Zimmern’s demo on the previous day, with a representative from Purple Wine Co. telling us about the Avalon Cabernet that had been paired with the dish we would be served.

Talking Wine

Robert then came in and took a look at everything around him.

Robert's Intro

And told us that he stole the hat from Gale Gand, who shortly after [Read more…]

Heirloom Tomatoes with Oregon Blue Cheese, Red Onions, and Basil
Found at this year’s United States Booth, there is not a lot I can say about this dish — I am practically predestined to like it. Nothing brings me more joy than shopping my local farmer’s market for some heirloom tomatoes. I love to mix and match them in a good gazpacho, put them in a sauce, use a few different ones in a salad. This was a [Read more…]

Please welcome Charles Bockway of CraftBeerRestaurant.com as he uses years of expertise in brew to review some of this year’s beer selections from the Epcot Food & Wine Festival.

15 Beers for 15 Years Booth

15 Beers and the winner is…
Because I’m sort of a beer geek and craft beer advocate, I’m visiting the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival to take a close look at the beer landscape. I found the 15 Beers for 15 Years kiosk in World Showcase to be a nice addition at this year’s festival. That’s one beer for each of the festival’s 15-year history. Sounded like it might be fun to select the best beer of the 15.

Overall Beer Menu -- click for larger version

Criteria and Round 1
To get started, I devised a selection criteria: [Read more…]

The amazing Ms. Sarah Holodick is back to share some insights and pics of her recent encounters with two of TV’s most famous foodies — Robert Irvine and Andrew Zimmern! Don’tcha just wish you coulda been there? Stay tuned for the review of Robert Irvine’s demo. Below is the review of Andrew Zimmern’s demo.

Andrew Zimmern Demo: Saturday, October 23, 2010

On Saturday, October 23rd, Matt and I had the opportunity to see Andrew Zimmern’s Culinary Demonstration at the Festival Center of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. We had seen him at last year’s demonstration and book signing, and he did not disappoint! He is a sincerely personable individual, and his stories are not only entertaining — you truly learn from him. It’s entertaining to watch him cook (as opposed to eating grubs and durian)!

Andrew Zimmern

What stood out to me not only last year, but this year as well, was the slight fear among guests that he would prepare bugs or the like for us. Andrew has literally been typecast as “the guy who eats all that weird stuff on TV.” While this is true of what he often does on his show, he does in fact realize that most Americans probably [Read more…]

Puerto Rico: Medianoche Sandwich and Bacardi Frozen Torched Cherry Colada
The Puerto Rico booth packs a punch this year, with just about everything on the menu being crave-worthy! We particularly loved the Medianoche Sandwich, partly for its name and partly for its incredible, savory taste. What a great mix of flavors!

The perfect accompaniment: a Frozen Torched Cherry Colada. A creamy, icy, sweet treat, this had a very distinctive flavor and texture — truly a winner.

Don’t get me wrong, I love slush puppies and slurpees as much as the next kid-at-heart, but sometimes ya just need a little vodka.

Disney has been wowing guests for years with two citrus-y, slushie concoctions that you need to be above 21 to order; and at this time of year they a third to the mix — only in town for a limited time — that might just top the other two…

Grand Marnier Orange Slush and Grey Goose Citron/Lemon Slush
The Grand Marnier Slush and the Grey Goose Slush sit side by side in Epcot’s France pavilion at a little outdoor champagne kiosk across from Les Chefs de France.

Slush Machines in Epcot's France Pavilion

Nothing about the slush machines swirling those orange and yellow mixtures would tip newcomers off to the fact that these two drinks are some of the most highly-recommended and beloved signature cocktails in Walt Disney World, but every once in a while [Read more…]

I love the French… their fearless use of heavy cream, their puzzling adoration of Jerry Lewis, their glorious national obsession with cheese. Any country that manages to produce nearly 400 distinct cheese varieties gets a gold star in my belly’s book of delights –- in fact, it almost makes up for [Read more…]

About twice a month, our resident Chef BigFatPanda puts together his amazing step-by-step, photo-filled posts where he and Chef Mickey show you their adventures in the kitchen cooking up Disney goodies! Today, Chef Big Fat Panda’s DIY Disney Recipes column brings us a savory, original recipe from this year’s Epcot Food and Wine Festival! Take it away, Chef!

Hey everyone! I’ve got something very good in store for you this time.

In my home — in my neighborhood — my family is semi-famous when it comes to Meatballs. In fact, a popular restaurant located in The Villages, FL, recently adopted our meatball recipe and now serves “Mama Maria’s Meatballs”. Maria is my cousin and took full credit, but that’s a whole other story

Polpetini Ingredients

So, as this is The Disney Food Blog, I am not able to just say: here is my family’s recipe. We gotta stick to the whole Disney recipe thing. But guess what? The recipe used for the Epcot Food & Wine FestivalItaly booth‘s Polpetini (meatballs) this year is almost identical to [Read more…]

China
A perpetual favorite of mine, the China booth always offers generous portions of both food and alcohol. This year, a visit to the booth will easily get you enough food for a full meal!

The pork pot stickers are a fantastic appetizer for the barbecue chicken stick, which actually has a lot of flavor (sometimes it seems like flavor is hard to come by when it comes to chicken). The black pepper shrimp and noodles is a massive portion, and could easily be a snack for two. And while we weren’t sold on the ginger ice cream (a last minute addition to the menu!) — the flavor was a bit too strong for our palates — the portion is certainly large enough to split among the whole family.

After absolutely loving the Green Tea Plum Wine Cooler last year, we decided to try the Happy Lychee this year…and boy was it happy. The amount of vodka in this thing was atrocious! If your goal at the festival is to get tipsy as quickly as possible — head to the China booth first.

Ireland
The Ireland booth is another one with looooooooong lines and happy customers! The Fisherman’s Pie is usually the reason behind both! While the booth is selling other items (including a Kerrygold selection of cheeses and a chocolate lava cake), it’s the Fisherman’s Pie that brought ‘em in last year, and it’s the Fisherman’s Pie that’s bringing ‘em in this year! Hit this booth either very early or very late. Scratch that. Forget about late. Hit it early!

New Zealand
There are two reasons why the line at the New Zealand booth might be long this year: 1. It’s right at the entrance to the World Showcase, so it’s the first booth a lot of hungry folks will hit; and 2. The lamb slider and the scallop dishes are getting top marks from a lot of hungry folks. Check out more photos, the full menu, and pricing on our New Zealand Booth Page.